Following three consecutive years of reported decline, the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) has good news to share in its 2011 Index: industry activity increased by 2.7 percent for the year, surpassing the growth of real GDP, which rose by 1.7 percent.

Fourth quarter activity bumped up 3.8 percent compared to the same period 2010, with increases in all four CEIR metrics: net square feet (a 4.2 percent increase), revenue (5.1 percent), professional attendance (3.6 percent) and number of exhibiting companies (2.4 percent). 

According to CEIR’s economist Allen Shaw, “The positive momentum of the exhibition industry, which has experienced six consecutive quarters of growth, gives strong reassurance that the industry has emerged from the economic downturn and is making progress toward recovery.”

For 2010, CEIR’s Index revealed a 2.4 percent decline from 2009, a year in which industry activity fell by a devastating 12.5 percent from 2008.